Let’s face it: it’s fun to be the bad guy. It’s time to discuss how you can secretly and strategically infect the Villagers in Infected.

Infected is our semi-cooperative social deduction game set during the time of the Bubonic Plague. One of the party is a Plague Doctor trying to infect the other players.

With “Infected”, you’ll need a good strategy to win as the Plague Doctor. While Villagers don’t know who anyone is in Round 1, as the Plague Doctor, you know quite a bit. You know you’re going to win by giving out Infected cards and silencing others. At least one other Villager is a “Silent Villager,” meaning they can never make a guess as to whom the Plague Doctor is.

First, you’ll need to take advantage of the situation by giving out your 2-Round delayed infection in Round 1. You can also consider giving out a 1-Round delayed infection on a game-by-game basis, if you know who you’re going up against. If you do give out 2 infection cards and there is a Silent Villager, that means there are 4 possible players of the 6 who will not make a guess as to who you are (you, the Silent Villager, and 2 villagers who received a delayed infection from you). Take advantage of this opportunity to cast doubt on others!

You could think about giving out a roll dice card in Round 2 if you happen to be passing back to someone who passed to you in Round 1. This would make other players think that you’re seeking revenge upon the Plague Doctor by forcing him/her to roll the dice.

If you are passing a card to someone new in Round 2, you could always give out another delayed infection card. This will cause absolute havoc in Round 3 when other players start dropping from your infections. Because only 1 player (or 2 at the most) can make a guess as to who the Plague Doctor could be, you could target the remaining player with any kind of infection card you have left in your hand, including an immediate infection.

In following rounds, players who have the chance to pass cards back to you will try to send you a “roll dice” card, so if you can survive those things, you have a chance at winning.

Try to look to the future and the past for the card passing order for your best strategy so you’ll know when to send infections and roll dice cards.

Remember that the Expansion Pack for Infected will carry a lot of surprises, so prepare well!